Sabres show up late

The Sabres put together a third-period rally against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night, but ultimately fell short. Trailing 3-0 after two periods, Buffalo scored two quick goals to open the third, but couldn’t get the tying goal.

Bobby Ryan sealed the Ottawa victory with an empty-netter in a 4-2 win at Canadian Tire Centre.

Jeff Skinner may have had the best opportunity to tie the game, but couldn’t deke the puck past Craig Anderson, who finished the night with 46 saves on 48 shots.

Skinner scored earlier in the game with a great deflection off a Rasmus Ristolainen shot, and Jason Pominville scored the other goal while playing in his 1,000th NHL game. In 673 games for Buffalo, Pominville has 500 points. He recorded 206 points in 327 games with the Minnesota Wild.

“To have a chance to play 1,000 games is overwhelming. I never thought I’d have a chance to be even close to that. You start hitting milestones. For now it’s just trying to have as much fun as I can.”

Pominville on 3rd: “We were on our toes…that’s the way we want to play…we walked about staying out of the box…last couple games we’ve taken too many…but that 3rd period we were going…probably could’ve tied the game…that should be the standard for our team” #Sabres

A slow start cost the Sabres a chance at two points. The Senators came out fast and dictated the flow of the game right at puck drop. You wouldn’t know by watching them that Ottawa had dropped each of their last four contests. Their hard work paid off with the man advantage in the opening period when Ryan Dzingel jammed home his fifth goal of the season.

Dylan DeMelo and Colin White would score the other two Ottawa goals, with the latter coming on the power play.

The loss snaps Buffalo’s point streak at five games, but suddenly they have dropped three straight. They’ll take on Ottawa again on Saturday at KeyBank Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 2 p.m.